


Encounter in the Deep

by dreamiflame



Category: Original Work
Genre: Be Careful What You Wish For, Blood and Violence, Dark, Gen, Undersea Horrors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 04:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8189557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/pseuds/dreamiflame
Summary: Scuba Diver was thrilled when he first saw Merperson, but not everything that's beautiful is friendly.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reeby10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/gifts).



> Hope you enjoy this treat, reeby10! 
> 
> My beta helped make it better, so thanks to him.

David secured his mask over his face and checked the air flow. It checked out, so he gave his friend and shipboard safety monitor Aaron the thumbs up. He perched at the edge of the boat for a moment, taking in the moment, then let himself fall backwards into the cold, clear water of the Indian Ocean.

A stream of bubbles followed David as he kicked down and away from the boat. He laughed inside his mask, feeling the familiar delight of weightlessness and freedom he got every time he dove.

The Indian Ocean was a new one for him, but he had been hoping to get here for a long time.

For nearly an hour, David swam freely, exploring the unfamiliar ocean and smiling joyfully at the new experience. Periodically, his radio would crackle in his ear.

“How’s it going, David?” Aaron sounded almost bored, which David couldn't fault him for, They’d had this same conversation six times now. He was getting tired of having it too.

“Still doing great, thanks,” he said, kicking his fins slowly to join in a school of fish. The fish darted around and beside him, and David felt his cheeks starting to ache. He was smiling so much his face was starting to cramp.

“Captain says your air may be running low. You should think about coming back soon,” Aaron said.

David checked the tank. “It’s fine for now, but I’ll head back shortly. Tell Phil not to worry so much,” he replied.

“Copy,” Aaron said, and the line went silent again, leaving David alone with the fish and his thoughts.

He swam along with the school of fish until they abruptly broke and scattered back the way they’d come. David mentally shrugged, what else could you expect from floating food? They weren’t that smart.

Then something impossible swam into view, and David gaped, staring as best as he could through the water. At this depth, it was starting to get murky, but he was sure he was looking at a mermaid.

She had short dark grey hair, dark eyes, and pale grey skin. Her tail was striped grey and paler grey, and David was so shocked by the fact she existed at all that he barely registered something strange about it.

The mermaid swam straight for him, until she was only a few feet from him. David could see gills fluttering in and out on her neck as they stared at one another. She started moving again, circling him. Like she was curious. David awkwardly turned in a circle, trying to keep her in view. She was much more graceful than he was, and by the time he managed to get himself around to face her again, she was much closer.

She smiled at him, and David felt his heart leap. She was beautiful, with her wild black eyes, her dark grey hair, and small but perfect breasts he was having a hard time keeping his eyes away from. She flipped her tail and moved a little closer, smiling wider.

David managed to tear his gaze away from her chest, smiling back, even though the mask hid his expression. She darted back gracefully, still smiling, then turned in a tight circle and headed back at him at lightning speed.

Just before the searing pain in his arm hit, David noticed her teeth properly for the first time.

The impossible creature had shark teeth.

He yelled in shock, trying to pull his arm out of her mouth, but she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, trapping both of his arms. She shook her head, and a chunk of flesh came loose. David yelled again as his blood filled the water, staining the ocean around them red.

This close he could see down her back, and straight at the sharp, curved dorsal fin decorating the base of her spine, and the lower, shorter second dorsal fin at what would be her knees. He could see the stripes along her sides, mottled pale and grey like a tiger. Or a tiger shark. Even her tail, at this angle, gave her heritage away: the off center wedge of her caudal fin. Her pelvic and anal fins scraped at his wetsuit as he struggled in her grasp.

She smiled again at him, teeth bloody and enormously sharp, and David felt fear flood him.

Be careful what you wish for, he thought, and braced himself as she reared back to strike again.

Instead he heard the snap of a spear gun, and the vice grip around his waist vanished. David opened his eyes and saw blood trailing away as the mermaid fled.

The spear dangled nearby on its reel, and David craned his neck to see behind him. A new hand took his injured arm and wrapped a compression bandage around it. Another diver.

Aaron.

Aaron switched David’s near empty main tank for his reserve tank, reeled the spear in and reloaded the gun. They made their careful way back up, on high alert for sharks that might be drawn to the blood.

On the boat again, David looked at Aaron as his friend unwrapped the bandage to clean the wound on his arm. “Thanks for coming after me, man. I know you hate diving.”

Aaron peeled the wetsuit off David’s arm and grunted. “I’d hate trying to find a new friend more.”

“How did you know I was in trouble?” There was a big piece of David’s forearm missing, but he could still use the arm. Small miracles.

“Your comms went out. We couldn’t reach you, so I suited up and we went to your last location.” Aaron rewrapped the bite wound. “David, dude, what _was_ that?”

“Impossible,” David said. “It was impossible.”

**Author's Note:**

> I may have been watching too many shows about sharks lately.
> 
> [Shark anatomy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_anatomy), for the curious trying to picture the tail.


End file.
